A semi-irregular blog of news, opinions, and random ideas about MTV's Daria and its fandom, plus anything else even vaguely Daria related

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Money Can Make Anyone Look Beautiful

Okay, okay, you knew I was going to do this. However, I'm not going to write the entry I was planning to write, which had some boob jokes and so forth. I was looking at the images of Dr. Shar from "Too Cute" when it hit me that I had seen that strange face somewhere before. (Click on the triple image above to enlarge it.)

It is my belief that Dr. Shar was modeled on a real-life personality, the Swiss-American socialite named Jocelyn Wildenstein. Wikipedia provides some background information on this lady, who overindulged in cosmetic surgery to the point that her facial features became disturbing to look at. However, you need to see an actual photograph of her face to get the full impact. The parallels with Dr. Shar's appearance should be clear. (Use Google to get more images. I could stomach just the one.)

Not much can be told about Dr. Shar from the episode, though there are some tantalizing hints at what lies beneath her much-altered exterior. She has a strong Deep Southern accent, perhaps from Georgia. She is obviously wealthy and has an active business. She might have been previously cited for ethics violations by a professional society of cosmetic plastic surgeons, as her actions and comments make it clear she is out for money, not to spread beauty; she manipulates Quinn like a master, and Quinn (and the Fashion Club) are taken in hook, line, and sinker. Only Daria's influence (it seems) keeps Quinn out of Dr. Shar's clutches.

Dr. Shar's parting comment, reproduced as this blog entry's title, makes me wonder if there was once a girl named Shar who came from a backwoods Southern hick town, a girl who wanted more than anything else to be pretty. She didn't like how she looked, so she became a plastic surgeon, got rich, then had herself redone until she felt she had achieved her lifelong ambition to be beautiful, if only in her own eyes. Now she lives in Lawndale, feeding off the secret fears and insecurities of others that they, too, should be beautiful. Kind of like being a vampire that sucks money instead of blood, though there is some blood involved, too.

More thoughts in a few minutes. A storm moved in and I have to log off, alas.

1 comment:

No one who's really from the South talks like Shar. I think her accent is a put-on, assumed because she wants to project the uber-feminine image of a Southern Belle (seeing as she no doubt sees herself as the epitome of beauty and grace).

Official MTV Daria websites

Fandom supersites

Daria supersites are comprehensive, content-rich websites designed by and for fans of the series. By definition, supersites offer a variety of links to other Daria fansites, but a true supersite offers much more—character descriptions, fanfiction archives, fan art galleries, essays and fan commentaries, message boards, screen-capture galleries, episode transcripts, downloadables, contests and quizzes, Dariacon information, etc. The designation of a fan site as a supersite is a matter of opinion, but the following sites (most of which are no longer updated) have made a serious effort to be comprehensive and offer a variety of material.

Series summaries

Daria summaries are webpages offering overviews of the TV series (1997-2002). Character images, episode synopses, and voice-actor lists are usually presented; some include links to other Daria sites. In most, little or no fan content appears, but some sites allow for fan reviews and commentary. Summary pages are often unoriginal copies of pages from Wikipedia or other sources about the show.

Latest fanworks

Many thanks to The Angst Guy for compiling the 2007-2010 fanfiction contributions, TheExcellentS for compiling the 2011 and 2012 fanfiction contributions, and Richard Lobinske for compiling the 2007-2011 fan art contributions.

As long as you're here, you may as well live the experience. The "Pizza King" pizzeria locator is wonderful, and everyone (here, anyway) likes sick, sad news. The Lawndale Mall is next. Turn on Radio by Daria and be at one with the suburb.

Internet stores and product reviews are mixed together below, as one often includes the other. Note the special section with reviews and advice on the Daria's Inferno computer game. See also the important information at the end of this list.

Daria items licensed by MTV are no longer available from Hot Topic, but these might be found on resale sites.

WARNING!Not all items that appear under search queries for "Daria" are officially licensed from MTV. No guarantees are made by this website for quality, relevance, or anything else. This list is only for your personal interest and amusement. Caveat emptor!

Blasts from the past

Thanks to theWayBack Machine at Archive.org, many of the Daria websites of yesteryear that were taken down can be recovered, in whole or in part, for our interest today. Earlier versions of current websites are also intriguing; many fanfics that were deleted by request of their authors turn out to still be available through the WayBack Machine. Suggestions for additions to this listing are welcome.

However, the WayBack Machine is not guaranteed to recover all or even most of a website. In some cases, just the skeleton of the site is left, without images or downloads. Some webpages are glitch-filled and need to be fixed by the Archive staff before viewing. (Write to the staff to describe problems in recovering old sites, if the issues seem fixable.) Enjoy surfing down memory lane.

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